Man with Knife Apprehended After Claiming He Wanted to Kill Michael Strahan

by Jackie Willis
4:52 AM PDT, July 02, 2014

Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images

Michael Strahan got a scare on Tuesday when a man showed up at ABC Studios in New York City's Times Square with a knife, claiming he wanted to kill the talk-show host.

ET can report that 25-year-old Andre Johnson was spotted near the security entrance of the studio by an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard. Johnson then pulled a knife out on the off-duty officer in an attempt to stab him. He was quickly apprehended, taken into custody and charged with a felony attempt of assault and menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Though Strahan, 42, was not there when the incident took place, but when questioned by police, Johnson claimed he wanted to kill the Live! with Kelly and Michael co-host. The New York Post says Johnson made these threatening remarks while wielding a knife but that's not been confirmed.

ABC released a statement to ET regarding the incident, saying: "There was an incident in Times Square, an individual lunged at one of our employees and was heroically tackled by a police officer. We understand the man was taken in for psychiatric evaluation. It was a scary situation but thanks to the fast actions of NYPD the situation was quickly under control. Michael was never in any danger."